November 2021 - 6

Expert cites anti-disease properties
of peptides for use in specialty crops
By Stephen Kloosterman
Associate Editor
Naturally occurring peptides, the
building blocks of plant and animal
proteins, show some effectiveness for
fighting plant disease in specialty crops.
So says Mauricio Flores, an
MAURICIO FLORES
international consultant who spoke
Sept. 1 at the Peptides and Citrus
Disease Management Symposium in
Bowling Green, Florida.
Flores, who holds a master's degree in
virology from the University of Costa
Rica, works as a private consultant
specializing in plant disease management
for citrus, coffee, melons and vegetables
throughout Central America, Mexico and
the U.S. His expertise is in diagnosing
problems and then developing integrated
solutions with chemicals, biologicals,
plant resistance responses and specific
nutritional aspects that can help
overcome disease.
To learn more about this new type
of agricultural resource, Vegetable
Growers News caught up to Flores
after his presentation in Florida for a
question and answer session.
Vegetable Growers News: First of all,
can you just break it down in layman's
terms? What is a peptide? Where do
they come from, and how are they used
in specialty crops agriculture?
Mauricio Flores: A peptide is a small
molecule made of amino acids, basically
not more than 50 amino acids in the
chain.
If the molecule has more than 50
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amino acids, it is cataloged as a protein.
We call them peptides also because
the chemical bonds that make up the
molecule are called peptide bonds (an
amino group plus a carboxyl group).
We have many peptides produced
in nature, such as plant peptides,
fungal peptides, anticancer peptides,
bacterial peptides, brain peptides,
gastrointestinal peptides just to mention
a few. They have been categorized based
on their source and function.
The concept in plants is rather new,
and we call them AMPs (antimicrobial
peptides). Right now, they are being
used in different crops such as citrus,
ornamentals, coffee, melons, tobacco,
tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers,
macadamia, almonds, etc. in order
to control fungal, bacterial and viral
disturbances.
They are included in the spraying
programs against pathogens.
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6 | VegetableGrowersNews.com
The conclusion was
that the product
had peptides that
inhibited the growth
of all these pathogens.
VGN: What's your own experience
with peptides, and how did you come
to work in this very specific area of
agriculture and biological chemistry?
MF: I started noticing that a
product called Keyplex I was using
against viruses in ornamentals was
generating an overwhelming remission
of symptoms with this specific
disturbance, and helping against
funguses and bacterias as well.
Basically, the product was supposed
to only activate the natural resistance
in the plant, but it also behaved as a
fungicide, bactericide and viricide.
I started investigating what could
be causing such a control in the
field of several viral, fungal and
bacterial diseases in different crops,
and performed in vitro testing of the
product.
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November 2021

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